Where Hearts Were Entertaining June: Europe 1800

This map, like the last, takes place in the universe of my timeline on alternatehistory.com, Where Hearts Were Entertaining June. The basics of the timeline is that the English Armada in 1589 is significantly more successful, though still fails to free Portugal from union with Spain. Instead, England is able to get its hands on the colony of Brazil, changing history forever. From there, history takes a far different turn, including Sweden entering a union with Brandenburg, France taking a more aggressive route in its European expansion, and North America is a motley patchwork of colonies rather than dominated by the English.

Since the last map, in 1735, significant events have changed the face of Europe. The Brazilian War of Independence from 1765 to 1771 wrecked the British Empire, sending it into a state of near-civil war as the new United Kingdom Brazil split the power and allegiances of the House of Stuart. What may have sparked a Second English Civil War, however, turned out to be something else entirely: a republican revolution. Though led primarily by the aristocrats and power dealers of Parliament, the British Revolution was a short but meaningful one, sending the King of Great Britain into exile in Brazil and setting off a series of revolutionary wars in Europe. As the Commonwealth of Great Britain settled into relative peace, the underclasses of Europe fought the powers-that-be for control of the destinies of some of the most powerful countries on Earth.

Many of the revolutions, underfunded and poorly-led, were failures, but those that weren't shook the very foundations of Europe. In Spain, the aging House of Habsburg, inept at handling the colonies and affairs at home, were overthrown in by citizen-soldiers who quickly battered back a French attempt at taking Catalonia and fought a war with monarchists in the greater Spanish Empire. Like the British, the Spanish would soon divide their colonies into "sister commonwealths' to give them some degree of self-rule while staying close to the Mother Country. Meanwhile in Italy, while the Kingdom of Sardinia locked down on its revolutionaries, popular revolution in Tuscany was so successful it provoked a response from the Papal States. However, with underhanded support from Venice, Tuscan revolutionary soldiers ripped apart the under-equipped and poorly-trained Papal soldiers and drove all the way to Rome itself before the Pope was forced to recognize the validity of the Commonwealth of Tuscany.

Poland, however, would prove to be the biggest boon to revolutionary ideology, as a succession crisis gone wrong resulted in a civil war between the aristocracy that was ended by popular revolution. This popular revolution was not, however, popular outside Poland's borders, and for the better part of a decade the Commonwealth of Poland found itself warring with Russia, Sweden, and Austria. However, the monarchist powers were poorly-organized and divided by greed and pettiness, while Poland stood as the most united it had ever been. One by one, the enemies around Poland were defeated and the Polish borders expanded anew. The war also provided an excuse to begin large-scale industrialization within the Polish lands, and by 1800 Poland is rapidly on its way to becoming the dominant power in Eastern Europe.

However, while the guns may have fallen silent by 1800, all is not at peace. The monarchist powers of Europe lick their wounds and are figuring out how to make their nations work in the new world that the revolutions brought. While the fights in Spain and Poland may be over, the fight for Germany and Italy is just beginning. Long divided into small powers, the two incredibly valuable areas are too rich to remain divided for long; the only question will be who can unite them in the new century of empire, revolution, and industry.